BoomerGirl Diary

Within our human nature, a quest for awareness into the higher realms, guided by the belief that we are spiritual, is what we desire and inherently know.

Ceremony and ritual, steeped in history and enriched with tradition, have given us many practices for celebrating and acknowledging the Divine, a divine that represents our sacred truth. To know that we are spirit in body form is to restore spiritual well-being and health. These customs invite blessings into the daily walk of life by helping to shift awareness from the mundane to the meaningful and extraordinary.

Anointing with sacred scent is one such practice that has evolved as an act of faith for passing forward spiritual blessing.

Anointing means "to touch with oil." In our humble beginnings, medicinal aromatic plant oil placed on the skin provided healing and comfort. It was performed in the spirit of an honorable act for celestial and earthly love. In all cultures, when healing takes place, in order to "make whole and to create a healthy state," the sense has been that one has been touched by Spirit and has been given the gift of a healing blessing. Oil anointing became a symbol for the healing power of divinity and for the mysticism of spirit and soul held within the totality of who we are.

In ancient times, anointing was used for divine promise, protection, and healing. Today, with the enticing great shift of religion and the expanding meaning of spirituality upon us, the Sacred Act of Anointing is reemerging to express our new sense of hopes and dreams. At a subtle level, this offers a new opportunity for empowering the sacred truth of who we naturally are and who we can become. By embracing the depths of spiritual nourishment we can help express individual alignment to the inter-relationship and connection to all things, living and unseen.

Ritual anointing is a personal spiritual practice or given within a group for dedication and recognition for "circle consciousness." This creatively expresses with intention a divine act of power. Anointing ignites a passion for the living soul. Soul energy, a life force that emanates from the depth of our being, promises an experience of spirituality on a subtle level that will be insistent upon a spirituality imbued with truth and individual meaning. Intentional anointing satisfies an inner hunger to embody, feel and express spirituality for the Divine.

Anointing oil, prepared alchemically for the highest good, captures the spirited focus for opening, clearing and connecting with the desired purpose. In this sense, anointing with oil is a sacred tool with the ability to direct, in a simple yet profound way, for what is being intentioned without boundaries of space and time. Anointing allows safe passage into all territories of spirituality for the creation of relationship equality to give and receive blessings similar to the practice of meditation or high prayer.

Mother Earth and Father Sky have given us experiences through the realms of nature with plants and their sacred fragrance to grow our individual connection to the higher realms. When aromatic and medicinal plant extracts, known as essential oils and herbal infusions, are combined with natural organic oils and other key alchemical ingredients to create anointments, we are given a tool for transformation and manifestation to restore and rebirth the grace of spirit by the intention embedded within.

Throughout the course of this column, I’ll be discussing different forms in which essential oils can be used, beginning here with a nighttime practice of anointing.

For example, try working with sandalwood, a balancing and centering tree aroma to uplift the spirit, calm the body, and reflect emotions for receiving a deep sense of clarity. Anoint chakra points (energy system), pulse points, under the nose and any place you feel intuitively drawn. Pass forward a spirit blessing unto yourself and welcome new attitudes each new day. Anointing is a simple ritual that can reflect the core of where you are now. There’s no time like the present, to embrace authenticity and bump up natural essence.

Sandalwood sweet dreams and blessings be to you.